Illegal arms and ammunition racket busted in Bangalore, 3 arrested

Bangalore: Three persons allegedly involved in a nation-wide arms and ammunition racket have been arrested here, police said on Sunday.

"Four revolvers, a pistol and 32 bullets were recovered from them when arrests were made on September 11 following a tip-off about a gang involved in manufacturing revolvers, pistols and bullets illegally at a place in North India and supplying them to anti-social and anti-national elements in different parts of the country for prices ranging from Rs 1.5-2 lakh," Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari said.

The three arrested were involved in the sale of the arms, he said adding they had been identified as Hussainsab (35) of Gadag District, Nawab Barkathulla (29) of Kagadia District in Bihar and Mohammed Siraj (25) of Jamathada district in Jharkhand.

The arms manufacturing unit was located in a North Indian state, Bidari said but refused to name the state. The accused had sold these arms to a number of persons all over the country, including underworld gangs in coastal districts of Karnataka, and efforts were on to trace them.

“Since the arms racket was spread throughout the country, the police proposed to suggest to the state government to hand over further investigation of the case to CBI,” Bidari said.